Free U.S. Shipping on Orders Over $40
When you relationally source coffee from origin, the potential for repeated excellence grows exponentially. Partnering with innovative producers who can replicate high quality coffee is just as important, if not more so, as finding high scoring coffees. Without a skilled producer, quality is just a byproduct of luck. Intentionally committing to a qualified producer means you’re able to watch them grow and flourish over time.
Evaluating coffee not just solely on taste but also on the character of the person who grew it is what led us to want to partner with Jaime Cartuche. When we were introduced to Jaime Cartuche and his coffee, we quickly realized that he brought years of experience and a bastion of knowledge to his craft. After working as the leader of the cultivation team at the famous Hacienda La Papaya farm and acting as a key player in its success, he purchased his own farm and began growing coffee three years ago. As we tasted his coffee we liked it from an assessment standpoint, but we also knew we specifically wanted to work with Jaime to see him succeed at an even greater level.
Tasting Notes: Energetic notes of papaya and blueberry balance with maple syrup sweetness
When you visit Finca Santa Teresa on the slopes of Volcán Barú, it is evident that something unique is happening here. Not only do they strive to produce great coffee, but they prioritize the preservation of natural vegetation that grows abundantly on their land. This is rare to find, especially when the majority of coffee producers practice deforestation in order to produce as much coffee as possible, regardless of how it impacts the environment.
Aracelly Estribi (pictured center) the long time manager of Finca Santa Teresa, began sending us consistently outstanding samples of Panamanian Geishas, and I couldn’t find another word to describe their flavor other than simply “beautiful.” Although the impact of Biodiversity is nearly impossible to quantify, it is evident that it plays a role in the exceptionally vibrant fruit and floral tasting notes.
As I got to know them, I realized their unwavering dedication to biodiversity and sustainability was more extensive and impressive than I imagined. The farm in its entirety is almost 300 acres, beautifully decorated with lively streams and diverse types of flora. Only 30% of the land is farmed, and the producers have dedicated themselves to maintaining a harmonious balance between natural forest and farm land. Finca Santa Teresa sets a standard for social responsibility by remaining a haven for the toucans, hummingbirds, and quetzels that call this jungle their home. They have also enacted a reforestation program where seeds from their forest are planted in a nursery for eventual replanting, and organic matter from processing is reused as a natural compost and fertilizer. Zorro and Estribi capture the full range of beauty that can only be evident in a farm that prioritizes biodiversity of flora and fauna.
Farm: Finca Deborah
Farmer: Jamison Savage
Variety: Geisha
Location: Volcan, Panama
When we visited Jamison in Panama for the first time in 2019, we planned to meet him in front of a large yellow market and went in to grab some water and snacks while we waited. A few minutes later, we were sitting outside on benches with old men who were occupying their day, smoking small cigars and enjoying one another’s company, when we saw Jamison Savage pull up in a Land Rover. He’s a high energy individual – focused and intense – which is apparent from the first moment you lay eyes on him.
Jamison hails from New York originally, and he worked in finance before deciding to trade in his family’s fast paced lifestyle for one immersed in the jungles of Panama. They moved to Volcan, a rough jungle town on the west side of Volcan Baru. He had invited us to come and taste the fruit of this new place he called home, and we hopped in his truck excitedly. It was a 20 minute drive from the market to his farm, and drove up the side of the volcano that gives this region its name with wide eyes.
We came to a densely forested area with a few rusty, red buildings at the center and knew we had finally arrived at Finca Deborah, Jamison’s farm that only produces competition level coffees. (As a side note, Jamison has a “Savage” line of coffees that he processes and sells from neighboring farms. These are good, but not at the same level as his Finca Deborah coffees. We are calling our Deborah coffees “Savage” because it sounds cool, and Jamison is okay with this.) The equipment he used was very lean, and it was clearly a “quality over quantity” operation. His processing and fermentation experiments were kept in tanks at his personal home, and through combining different inert gasses (aside from just CO2), pressures, PH levels, and extended fermentation times, he had created flavor profiles uniquely his own. When we began tasting these experimental coffees, I experienced “new” like I hadn’t even imagined. It was a moment I always crave in coffee, where not only was the quality level extremely high, but the flavor profiles were unlike anything I had tasted to that point.
Jamison brought the energy of New York to Panamanian coffee and blended it perfectly with the slow pace of Mother Nature
to become one of, if not the, foremost producer of experimental Carbonic Maceration Geishas in the world. Finca Deborah doesn’t produce a lot of coffee, and most of what is produced goes to Asia and Australia. It’s a privilege for us to be one of two roasters in the states, the other being George Howell, who are working directly with Jamison to bring you THE SAVAGES.
If you were lucky enough to get some of this extremely limited launch, you'll experience coffee that bends the very definition of the word. With these grand cru geishas from Finca Deborah, you'll gain a new perspective on where innovative processing from the wine industry is meeting up with the most highly prized varieties in the world to become a rapidly emerging new high end of specialty coffee.
The coffees we’ve purchased are:
Nirvana Geisha • Natural Nitrogen Macerated Geisha: A carbonic Maceration-like process where the CO2 is swapped out for Nitrogen (Nitrogen Macerated) before the coffee is dried as a natural. This flavor profile has a unique combination of winey, black currant flavors and tropical florals and fruit - like a sangria with fresh pineapple and starfruit.
Dose: 20g | Grind slightly finer than usual | Continuous pour
Symbiosis • Anaerobic Natural Geisha: This is a new process to us this year and is Jamison’s low pressure Anaerobic Natural Geisha. It’s bringing a beautiful smoothness to Jamisons’ usually intense profiles, and we are getting syrah grape, plum, general purple fruit, and tropical notes.
Dose: 22g | Grind similar to Nirvana | Pulsated pour
Launching 8/6
Afterglow • Natural Geisha: This is Jamison’s “classic” profile Natural Panamanian Geisha. He dries it in very thick layers with lots of turning on the beds for an enhanced fruit punch-like flavor profile. plum, strawberry, fruit punch and floral.
Illumination • Carbonic Washed Geisha: This coffee highlights the profile of a well crafted Carbonic Maceration coffee. It’s pulped, then placed in CO2 under pressure to create a pre-fermentation environment before being dried as a washed coffee without fruit. We always get yellow tropical fruit flavors, like mango and pineapple, as well as a lot of florals.
